The Ups and Downs of Rental Car Scheduling

Some people think they know every damn thing.Sometimes, for example, my wife will order a salad for an entrée at a restaurant and the waiter will bring it as an appetizer.The waiter will say, “OH, I thought you wanted the salad first.”Really?Seriously?First before what, exactly?Did she order anything else?Let’s see your little order pad there, Genius, no, nothing there… did you think she would just want to sip coffee and watch me eat?Please.Or, the other day I boarded a plane and it was sweltering hot.I asked the flight attendant if she could talk to the pilot and cool the plane down a bit.She said (after taking my coat and watching me sit down in first class), “Each seat is equipped with a small fan, sir.Just twist the nozzle to release a refreshing stream of cool air.”Duh.I already did that.I could have flambéed some kabobs in that “refreshing stream of air.”Did she really think I had no clue about the air nozzle?She even made the little “twisty” motion with her hand… “Like this sir, left loosey, righty tighty…”

Ugh.

Rental car companies have become a bit too presumptuous like this these days.A few months back, I walked down to the Hertz number one club gold area to pick up my car.My plane was 42 minutes late getting in and I just wanted to drive to the hotel.As I gazed at the board of names, my eyes passed the “Ws” and my name was missing.*sigh* So… trudged back to the counter to ask, “Where’s my reservation?”She said, “Oh, you didn’t pick up your car within the 30 minutes of your reservation deadline so, we canceled it.”What?Oh, no you did not!

She did.It turns out, when you make a reservation through a travel agency, that agency gives the rental car company your arrival time.Sometimes they give the flight number, but not always.If you don’t pick up the car within 30 minutes of your arrival time, your car becomes fair game.Yes, I was outraged.In the end, they gave me a new car, but I still think they were under the impression that I was lolly-gagging my life away in a souvenir shop somewhere, rather than tending to the important business if picking up their car.The lesson is, when you have to reschedule a flight or, God forbid, your flight is delayed; call your rental car company and tell them!I tried it, it works.They asked for my new flight number, it didn’t cost me anything and, you guessed it, my name was on the board and my car was where it was supposed to be!